


Day 282

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [282]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 05:08:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26920096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Relationships: Gomes/Iris
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [282]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 1





	Day 282

Gomes knew that if he climbed into bed, he would not be able to sleep. The past couple of days had been incredibly stressful. They hadn't even gotten to the part of the construction that they were supposed to modify secretly, but Gomes could feel the Templars watching him nonetheless, and he couldn't help but feel like they were on to their schemes. The more worried he was, the harder it was to sleep and the more tired and stressed he would be the next day. It was a vicious cycle that Gomes knew would break him soon. 

To that end, Gomes planned to go to the Hanged Man and drink himself into a stupor. Hungover he could deal with, the boat ride across the harbor notwithstanding. It has been a long time since he had drunk himself to sleep. When he got started it was very hard to stop, but worse might befall him if he didn't. 

"Where are you going?" His wife, Iris, asked from the bed. Their daughter, Sunna, was already asleep and Iris was on her way to join her. Gomes kissed his wife on her forehead. 

"Just heading out for a moment," he said. "The foreman just wants us all together for an hour or two. Apparently there are more rules we have to follow in the Gallows from now on."

Iris looked at Gomes silently for a good long while. She looked worried, not the normal worried-he-was-going-to-become-a-drunkard-again worried but daughter-turned-a-corner-and-disappeared worried. 

"Why can't he just tell you in the morning?" She asked, sitting up and coming fully awake. Gomes shrugged, avoiding his wife’s eyes.

"He didn't say."

"Please don't go," Iris said. Gomes could see tears welling up in her eyes. His heart hurt for her but he didn't even know what the matter was. If she thought he was lying she would have said so.

"What's got you so worried?" He asked. 

"Wanda," she said, "Jansen's wife… we got to talking the other day. She told me that Jansen was out drinking one night and got taken by blood mages. He was their slave for weeks, and it took the templars, the guards and the Champion working together to save him. And he was so very lucky to be rescued at all. There were dozens taken and only Jansen was rescued. The blood mages don't come out during the day but what if they are lurking in the shadows right now waiting for people to nab. What will Sunna and I do without you?"

“It’s just down the way,” Gomes replied. “I won’t be long. I just…”

He met Iris’s eyes for a moment and looked away quickly.

“You’re going drinking aren’t you?” she demanded. “I thought we agreed that you-”

“I know what we agreed,” Gomes snapped. “I know! I just need to sleep and I can’t when I’m thinking about going back to that place.”

“The mage won’t try anything in the heart of the Circle,” Iris protested. Gomes wasn’t sure what to say to that. He wasn’t worried about the mages right now.

Gomes told Iris everything. About the templar who asked the Foreman to add a secret hole in the wall so the mages and templars could exchange secret notes. Every day he worried that it would be the day they found out, but he didn’t want to betray the foreman by going to the templars. Iris thought a long time about what he said before answering.

“It seems to me that the foreman already betrayed you by making you a part of the conspiracy,” she said at last. “You don’t owe it to him to keep a secret you didn’t want.”

“But the money-” he began but Iris didn’t stop.

“Things are better than ever now,” she said. “You have more work with that wheelbarrow but if you get arrested for working with apostates.”

Gomes nodded. He didn’t care much for the templars but he had to look out for his family first. 

“I’ll tell the templars first thing in the morning,” he said. “But that doesn't make me any less stressed.”

“Well,” Iris said, pulling at his trousers. “I have some ideas about that too. ”


End file.
